


“A Little Bit of Mother Nature’s Magic”

by AriadneVenegas



Series: Watson woes july daily drabble challenge [23]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV), Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, John Watson has his own methods, John Watson in Afghanistan, John is a Very Good Doctor, John's War, Sherlock Being Sherlock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 20:39:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/904670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriadneVenegas/pseuds/AriadneVenegas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Watson was in the Afghan wars he learns a lot not only from his superior surgeon Alexander Preston, but from the Arabian people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	“A Little Bit of Mother Nature’s Magic”

**Author's Note:**

> **Author's Notes:** Prompt of Prompt #28:  
>  Botany Bay: Plants frequently play an important part in Holmesian stories. Pick an herb, flower, or other plant, and make it a key part of your entry today.  
> [Here some medicinal herbs](http://www.afghan-web.com/fauna/medicinal.html) you can find in Afghanistan, and here [Peppermint properties. ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppermint)

He found himself with dysentery and lost in a sandstorm so he thought he was good as dead, but he was found by a merchant caravan. The women gave him their ancient medicines and mixtures that desert dwellers had used for hundreds of years. 

 

He was so lost in his fever that he did not question the veracity of their claims. When he was well again after only a few days, an impressed Watson asked them to teach him about their medicines. He explained he was a medicine man and would gladly trade techniques while he searched for a British camp. They agreed, and Watson was happy to learn what he could to when supplies became scarce; an all too common occurrence in the middle of a war. 

 

When he found a British camp to return to, Watson thanked his companions and saviors. They gave him some of their oils, along with the knowledge of how to find and make more. From then on, if Watson saw a plant he recognized, he took some, stored it, and labeled it. So it was that when the morphine ran out, he had dried plant leaves that helped with the pain. 

 

He found that **garlic** functioned as an antibiotic and also helped to counteract the venom of scorpions slowing its ill effects. Watson used the powdered **wormwood** the medicine’s women had given him, for the worse cases of malaria. Patients with dysentery, **Holarrhena’s oil,** diarrhea and other stomach disorders could be eased with **boiled rice water** , which helped prevent dehydration.

 

Back in London, John Watson didn't expect these skills to be used after the war, but he never forgot them. When Sherlock was so ill he refused to eat or even sip at a cup of tea, Watson had a solution. He forced Sherlock to take **boiled rice water and peppermint** , the peppermint improved the flavour as well as helping the stomach. Sherlock labeled him a witch and primitive primate, but when he was eating soup a day later, Sherlock didn't dare to say a word against his methods ever again.


End file.
